Hopkins spent several days in Skopje covering Sunday’s referendum on whether to change the country’s name to resolve a decades-long dispute with Greece and open the door to eventual NATO and European Union accession.

Cilimanov tweeted: “To all taxi drivers following me, if this one gets in your car it’s time for uncle Kumplung” – a reference to a character in a 1990s film with a taxi driver who beats and rapes women.

The OSCE called on Cilimanov to “immediately” remove the tweet, but it was still visible at the time this story was published.

Cilimanov is well-known for his online criticism of Western officials and ambassadors in Macedonia. He was one of the founders of a campaign in Macedonia against liberal US philanthropist George Soros, which targeted BIRN’s Skopje office among others.

Spare me your fake outrage. Your side has been using all possible means, from wiretaps to guerrillas, against us for years. Civility left this place long ago